Overview

Grade Level: 6th
Subject Area: All
Number of Students (average): 32
Years of Teaching: 2

Description

Answer the following questions as if you were giving advice to a student teacher.

How would I introduce a discussion of my approach to instructional design?			My instructional design involves how I go about figuring out what my students need to learn, how they will learn it, and how I will know what they are learning.
What are my resources for designing units and lessons?			Using teachers in and outside of my school is a huge resource, especially veteran teachers. The internet has a plethora of lessons. I often find an idea I like online and adapt it to make it my own and fit my teaching style.
What do I generally do first?			I think about what students should gain from the unit, what they should learn, etc. Then I can start thinking about how I could assess what they should learn. Once I get to this stage I will often ask other teachers and look online for ideas. If a quick search doesn't give me what I want, then I begin designing the lesson/unit on my own. But I try to talk to people about the lesson or unit along the way.
How do I interact with the standards?			This depends more on the subject. I usually stick much more strictly to the state standards in reading, writing and math. These units and lessons are closely aligned to the 6th grade standards. However, in social studies and science I do not align my lessons and units as closely to the standards. I still teach the major units on Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, the water cycle, natural disasters, etc but I am less concerned if everything they study in that unit aligns with a specific standard. For example, students learn fun things about Mesopotamia that are not necessarily explicitly written in the standards but they are related. These are in addition to teaching many of those standards though.
What are my constraints and how do I respond to them?			I often over-plan units and lessons, which is better than doing the opposite but it still poses challenges because I often run out of time. I simply try to do too much. From year to year I can see which lessons and units ran over and I can adapt them accordingly for the next year. Making notes on the lesson right after I teach it is the best way, otherwise I forget by the next year. Sometimes I realize I need to divide the lesson into two lessons or ask more questions to assess learning. I also think I talk too much so I try to find ways for me to talk less and the students to do more. Chatting with other teachers about this issue and having people observe me is usually a good way to combat this constraint.
How do I approach student assessment?			I tend to give more formal assessments, which has its benefits, but I know that I need to allow students other ways to express what they have learned. I love data so I like getting hard numbers and percentages for a student on each objective. Again, this has many benefits, but it also limits students and their abilities. I try to offer other kinds of assessments for subjects like social studies and science, whether it is a project, poster, presentation, etc.
How do I approach post-assessment?			doubleClickHereAndType
How do I approach self-assessment?			After a lesson I try to jot down notes on my computer about how well it went, if it took too long, how engaged were the students, etc. This obviously doesn't happen all the time, but II did a pretty good job of this my first year. I can usually tell from quizzes and tests how well students understood the concepts so if the scores are low, I don't blame them, but instead look at myself and reflect on what I could have done differently. In the future I want to talk to students about the lesson after I teach it and ask them how they thought it went, what they didn't understand, what could be improved etc
What are areas I would like to learn more about and/or become better at?			I would like to learn more about making more cohesive units, even integrating various subjects. With limited time for SS and science, our units become disjointed and take too long to complete. I am also always looking for new ways to engage my students and push them to higher level thinking, especially within a classroom of students with so many different abilities.
What final advice would I give about my approach to instructional design?			I learned early on about backwards design and I have taught lessons and units with and without using backwards design. I have seen first hand the benefits of backwards design both for the students and for myself.